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Hello. I'm Elaine Kung, blessings from California in United States. We are continuing with our Work-Life Balance series. Number two. Last time I introduced to you this times acrostic. We want to have good times as we work towards a work life balance.
Today, we're gonna focus on the ‘M’. I want to share with you my passion on having a good purpose and a good principle with living a missional life as bi-vocation, purpose driven. What does that mean? So let me tell you about myself so that you have the context.
So when we work on managing our time and our life, actually, it's more about managing ourselves, which include these seven areas. So time is part of it, and then knowing your priorities are in line to your goal on what's important and manage your emotion, right? With the same time, how you feel really make a difference, that affects your energy level, your thought process, your attitude, your mindset, and then your words that come out, how to interact with people in our communication, because all of that really contribute to how you manage yourself and ultimately managing your life.
So when we talked about managing our life, there are three partners in our life, there’s yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So if you think about yesterday as your partner, do you tend to regret? I wish I would have, could have, and should have? Regrets on what you didn’t do or what you did and that you're not happy about? Or do you just ignore it and say, forget about it? Or better, should we learn from the past and build on the past so that I learned from my mistake, and I would not make the same mistake over and over again. I build on what I've done well and be better, or not so well that I would learn from it, so I can avoid the same mistake.
And then today, do I complain about all these long list of to do? Or do I add on it in a proactive manner and plan and manage it? And that's what we're gonna learn a lot about planning and management. And then tomorrow, do you worry about it? Because I don't know what's gonna happen, I have so much more I need to do, this is due and that is due… Or do we want to plan in a proactive way? So if you worry, it doesn't do any good, cause worry actually reduce your productivity and you lose focus. So we're gonna learn how to be better partners with our past, today, present, and tomorrow.
So my past, my history, I was born in Hong Kong, coming from a very poor family. We were homeless at one point and I was a trouble maker believe it or not. So we were living on the edge. Then as a teenager in my last year in high school, we were so thankful, our friends help us, and they process some paperwork and help us to come to America as refugee status and immigrated to the state of Maryland in United States.
So I did my last year of high school and amazingly within that year, god really changed me and help me to be a Christian. So I was changed from a troublemaker to a peacemaker. Our family work in a restaurant, I was a waitress. Then ever since I became a Christian, now it's been 40 years. I experienced so many miracles, such as being able to go to Cornell for my undergraduate and then Princeton for my graduate study, and then work for a telecommunication company for 33 years. That's a long time and I've learned so much and a very fruitful career and in these 33 years. I was living the American dream. And then at the end of the 33 years, that made it very clear when to retire, how to retire and when to retire. So we retire almost 4 years ago and we moved to California.
So this is where I want to share with you, how my career and my past is a bi-vocational mission life, where even though I might have started in a poor, are losing at a starting point, poor, humble beginning. And yet I really was a trouble maker, had problem in my life, and yet God changed me to be a peacemaker. Then as a Christian I practiced my Christian value, as a wife, as a mom, as a director at work, Sunday school teacher and a elder at church.
So then now in my retirement, I actually preach and teach. So through these five ‘P’s really show how I was practicing my Christian faith, both in my mission in the society as a engineer and then a director. And then also I have a calling in God's kingdom as a Sunday school teacher, and a godly mom and a wife. So together, I have both vocation that I'm living out. So sound like a Cinderella story and it’s indeed God's word coming alive in my story. So through all this, I know I can still work on both vocation for the society and for the kingdom.
So through my 33 years, I received a few award, one of them, out of the 280,000 employees in my company, I was chosen to represent my company to kind of compete with others in the rest of the country, different companies and institution. And I ended up winning this women of color, stem career achievement of what really an honor. And as a Christian, we really can see work as a calling that we can take Jesus to work and that's why our ministry is called to work. And that's how I'm so thankful that I know my purpose and I can live a bi-vocation life and will share more in the future.
So Joseph in the Old Testament is very much like that a bi-vocational minister. If you read genesis, and you see that his mission in a society ended up becoming a prime minister through this five ‘P’ in his life. And then his calling in the kingdom is to lead the Israelites to Egypt. So his privilege when he was young to get this coat of many colors. And then the second ‘P’ he was thrown into the pit by his brother because they were jealous of his favoritism by his parents, so he was sold as a slave. And then the third ‘P’, Potiphar, becoming his boss, the good boss. But Potiphar’s wife had unfair accusation and they ended up putting him in prison. And yet all this time, Joseph was faithful, available, and teachable, kind of spiritually ‘F.A.T.’ servant leader to help others. He didn't complain much. Then finally, the 5th ‘P’ is his palace, becoming the leader and be the second in command, the prime minister to pharaoh in the country of Egypt and then helping his family to come to Egypt.
So in our work, we may get favoritism, or we may get thrown into the pit, or unfair accusation, or lockdown in some career prison. And yet, we learn to trust in God to be faithful, available, and teachable and know that he place us there for a reason and be a bi-vocational minister.
So to review back my life, since I became a Christian 40 years ago, I build up this whole life experience. And that's a bi-vocational missional life, whether in the calling in my church ministry, as a Sunday school teacher, or in my career, in my 33 years, as a professional and a director, and then retired or re-‘Fired’. And then in my community, my personal community, married for 35 years. Now two adult children and a daughter in law and live with my parents for the 25 years and they were big help to me, and then have external community serving for my Cornell and Princeton to interview college applicants. We're serving now on 12 organizations on the board. So that is my three ‘C’s, and I believe everyone has your three ‘C’s. It's important to know what your three ‘C’s are, and that way, you see these three ‘C’s actually converge and become integrated.
And now, as I look back, my experience in every one of the seas had built me up as a whole life experience. Now I use all my experience and the biblical teaching to speak on education, career planning, marriage, parenting, and life, skill. And that's why I am invited to give 30 some talks this month in September, and then average 20, some talks every month during the pandemic. And that is an exciting bi-vocational missional life. So I can speak on parenting and work in Chinese or in English interview by Dallas Theological Seminary about my faith and work ministry called to work.
So it's not retired, it's ‘re-Fired’. I'm on fire and really, very enjoy my retired or ‘re-Fired’, life, and sharing and teaching, and then integrating my faith and life and helping people, how to integrate joy at work and leadership camp. And then even in mainstream American conference, the first ever faith and work conference for women, Boldly, that I'm gonna speak on the same topic, “How do I wear all these hats?” So having good times for work life balance, today I share with you missional life as bi-vocation, purpose driven. When we're clear on our purpose, enjoying out bi-vocation that makes a difference. See you next time.
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